Action library#

Presets describe what you want to do, such as close a tab or center a window. Mousetroke stores the preset ID and parameters and chooses the Windows or Mac implementation when it runs. Browser and editor shortcuts still depend on the receiving app supporting them.

Pick an action#

1. Create or select a gesture, then click Choose action (or Change on an existing action).

2. Search by name, description, alias or shortcut spelling, such as ctrl+w on Windows or cmd+w / ⌘w on Mac. Search covers all categories. Without a search, use Common, Browser, Edit, Text, Window, Desktop & System, Media, Open or Mousetroke.

3. Pick a result. Actions with parameters open a form: enter text, choose a date format or search service, or select a URL, file, folder or app. Click Use this action to confirm the form. Unavailable actions are disabled with a platform or phase-two reason.

4. Test the gesture outside settings. An empty gesture name follows the selected action name. Menu items use the same picker.

The search box receives focus when the picker opens. Use Up/Down to move through available results and Enter to select. Esc closes the parameter form first, then the picker. In multiline text, Ctrl+Enter or Command+Enter confirms the form.

Convert to advanced action replaces a preset with its current platform's editable keys, window operation, URL, app, command or system key. The confirmation explains that this is one way: the result no longer follows the preset's platform or language defaults. Native layout, power, literal-text, date/time, plain-copy, pause and settings actions keep their preset form; their cards explain why conversion is unavailable. The Advanced group at the end of the list offers send keys, commands, Lua and menus; the advanced action reference also covers the existing editors.

Text, windows and power#

• Type text outputs the literal text, including spaces, line breaks, Chinese, emoji and characters such as ^+#{ENTER}. Paste is the default: it temporarily uses the clipboard and restores its previous text after a short wait. If the clipboard contains images, HTML, file lists or other non-text data, or cannot be inspected, it types directly without changing the clipboard. paste_delay_ms is only visible for paste: the UI accepts 50–5000 ms, with a default of 150 ms. Type injects Unicode without using the clipboard. Both send input to the app receiving keyboard input.

• Insert date/time uses the local system clock and the chosen output method. Formats include ISO date, Chinese date, US date, time and date with time. A custom pattern accepts YYYY, MM, DD, HH, mm and ss (case sensitive). Other characters are literal; single quotes protect literal text and '' inserts a quote. For example, YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss gives a timestamp. Unclosed quotes are rejected.

• Copy as plain text sends Ctrl+C / Command+C, waits up to 500 ms for a clipboard version change, then replaces the copied content with its text only. If copying does not complete or has no text, it reports a failure and keeps the clipboard contents. Select text and keep that app focused before using it.

• Layout actions use the same gesture target as other window actions, following Preferences → Gestures act on. Windows uses native window positioning; Mac uses Accessibility and the screen's usable area. Minimum window sizes and app restrictions can prevent an exact half-screen layout. Exit Mac native fullscreen first. Next monitor cycles through screens in a stable order, preserves relative placement and maximization, and does nothing with one screen.

• Turn off displays lets input wake the displays again. Sleep requests normal system sleep and can be denied by the account or system policy. Failed native actions write one log line and show a brief on-screen message. Pause / resume gestures uses the same pause state as the tray and hotkey; use either of those to resume when gestures are paused. Open settings uses the regular settings window.

Catalogue#

The tables below are generated from the registry and include all 87 entries. ✓ means implemented on that platform; availability still depends on the app, hardware and required permissions. The gesture cheatsheet is reserved for phase two.

<!-- action-library:generated:start -->

Browser#

Edit#

Text#

Window#

Desktop & System#

Media#

Open#

Mousetroke#

<!-- action-library:generated:end -->

To refresh all ten catalogues after changing the registry or translations, set UPDATE_ACTION_DOCS=1 and run cargo test -p mousetroke-core --test action_docs. Run the same command without that variable to check that the committed tables are current.